Fair warning: This Fanfiction may contain mostly Undertale elements, but I intend for a tiny bit of Deltarune to be thrown in as well. So please, if you haven't already, check it out. Okay, on to the story!
At the surface world, it was a wonderful day. The sun was shining, flowers were blooming, cool breezes were gently skimming the grass. Perfect for a day outside. About a mile away from Mount Ebbot, families were mingling on the grass, putting down their loads as the mothers set up umbrellas and unrolled picnic blankets and the fathers played catch, soccer, and tag with their children. Other children dressed in gray shirts and blue jeans, the same for every child, mingled among the other children, some playing, some chatting, and some just keeping to themselves while a middle-aged female stood by, wearing a gray dress and silver spectacles and gazing at the children as they mingled and talked.
In this bright sunlight of this perfect day, it wasn't surprising that no one, even the woman, occupied with their own activities, gave a single glance at a small figure scaling the distant mountain.
Frisk's breath came out labored and heavy as they heaved themselves up another overhang. Their muscles trembled with exhaustion, and their hands had been scraped over several sharp edges of stones. However, despite the aching muscles, scraped hands, and throat like sandpaper, they knew that it was no option to stop. But even as their body struggled up the stone mountain, their mind was still busy thinking.
I hope they'll be okay.
They pushed themselves further upward, struggling for a hold, but after a few seconds, they regained traction on an outlying rock, and they kept going. Their hands and arm muscles seemed to cry out in protest as they touched another stony surface and heaved themselves up.
I hope they'll be happy, even without me here.
After circumnavigating a particularly tricky slab of granite, they reached a section of the mountain where the rock jutted out, enough for a short rest. Frisk clambered onto the rock and sat there, sides heaving as they caught their breath. They put their head on their knees and looked out among the blissful summer scene at least a mile away, still lost in thought. Even though the day was the ideal day to feel the cool breeze and enjoy the sunlight and the nature all around, Frisk's soul was weighed down with sadness as they gazed out into the horizon.
I'm sorry.
Suddenly, Frisk's head lifted slightly. A whole slew of cars, blue and with flashing lights on the top of the shiny chromes, drove in from the town and gathered around the base of the mountain. From where they were sitting, Frisk saw the slight blue outlines of police officers getting out of the cars and approaching the civilians, no doubt asking them about a certain child in a blue striped shirt.
Frisk knew that eventually, one observant soul would point them in the right direction, or the police would find some evidence of their hasty flight: a stray footprint, or the small handbag which they had ditched in the small wooded area surrounding the mountain.
Time to go.
Resisting their muscles' protests, Frisk pushed themselves up, and as soreness ran up and down their arms, they gripped a rock and continued to climb. As the mountain's height became apparent, so did the difficulty of the climb. The farther Frisk went, the steeper the ledge became, and the less handholds were available for a sturdy grip. They ended up losing their grip five times, and they ended up hanging by the tips of their fingers before finding another hold and continuing. From below, they could barely make out the sounds of frantic sirens and screeching of tires as more backup arrived, and Frisk thought it safe to assume that they had spotted their struggling form by now.
Finally, after many long, aching minutes, the human child made it to their intended destination: an opening near the mountain's peak. Pulling themselves onto the small ledge overlooking the cave, their muscles shaking, they reached the top and then promptly collapsed, breathing hard. Their sides heaved as their lungs hungered for air, yet every breath sent pangs of soreness down their aching throat.
Suddenly, the child heard the nearby sounds of shouting. Sitting up extremely quick, they looked past the overhang and gasped. Police were rushing to the mountain, climbing the rocky surface. Since they were bigger of stature and had lots more practice than Frisk (whose practice was climbing the big oak tree in the backyard of their house), they were gaining, and they were gaining fast.
Frisk pushed themselves up to their feet as fast as they could, rushing into the cave as fast as their legs could carry them. Eventually, the police would catch up to them, and their entire plan, albeit mostly improvisation, would be foiled in an instant.
But maybe they could hide. Or find something to defend themselves. Or…something. Anything to…
Their train of thought ended just as quickly as it had started as the child skidded to a stop, observing the scene before their eyes. Beyond the small passageway they had found themselves in, they saw a huge cavern, with immense stalactites on the ceiling and a few places where the mountain had crumbled, letting in patches of sunlight. The cavern, probably about fifty feet across every direction and another fifty feet tall from the cavern floor, was fashioned into a circular shape, like a very roughly formed dome. But the most noticeable thing by far in the entire cavern, which Frisk had stopped just short of, was the immense hole in the middle of it, fifteen feet wide and a daunting drop into seemingly infinite blackness. Tangled vines grew in knots all around its edge.
As the child stood, taking in the scene, the rushing of boots snapped them back to attention. They turned to see a few policemen, holding flashlights in one of hand and unidentifiable metal objects in the other, tramping down the hallway at an extremely fast pace. Their feet, even though they had scaled the mountain not too long ago, relentlessly hammered against the stone tunnel as they got closer to their target.
The child's eyes widened, and they stumbled away from the oncoming threat, only to bump the back of their heel on one of the sluggish vines. Just as the police entered the cavern, flashlights in hand, the child fell over backwards…into the darkness of the immense hole. Their scream echoed in the depths of the cavern as they plummeted downward.
Just then, the human's eyes made out what had been in the police officers' off hands: small, lethal handguns. Frisk only thought one thing as they neared the bottom of the immense fall:
Thought so.
Then, they hit the ground as their entire world went dark.
Flowey sat quiet, thinking to himself, as the walls of the ruins loomed above him. His leaves brushed the small curtain of grass around him as this mind wandered to the same topic, one he had thought about many times.
I mean, it was nothing personal, right?
He never really dwelled much on how it looked as he did it, but always why he did it. The answer was always obvious only after he thought through the basic guidelines. After the first time, his curiosity was sated almost completely, and there would have been no other reason to do it. But for some reason, he just kept pressing that button. He kept repeating the same process, reducing them to dust. After he finished, he reset…and then he kept doing it. Why did he?
Only one logical explanation appeared in his mind. It's because he could.
He wanted to feel sorry, to take up that moral compass that once pointed him firmly in a straight direction. But to be honest, it was all a blur. After only 45 resets, all his memories of that specific timeline all melded together. Thinking about Toriel turned into Asgore, who turned into Undyne, then Alphys, then Mettaton. Thinking about one just turned into them all.
And when he thought about that, all he wanted to do was to get his memories straight again. To solidify who was who. But after each attempt, they just melded together again, because, after all, they all ended up being close to, if not, the same thing: small particles of dust floating around in the shafts of what little light remained.
But it doesn't hurt to try again, right?
Almost subconsciously, Flowey ducked into the earth, coming out again where he knew the ruins began: the crumbling gate with the two sets of stairs beside an old, decrepit fountain. And in front of the fountain was what he was looking for: A small, yellow light, almost like a tiny star. Putting his leaf on top of it, Flowey kept thinking to himself. All I do is sit around and photosynthesize, and wish I could twiddle my thumbs, and of course, I can always…
Resting his leaf on the star, Flowey turned his head to the screen in front of him, and his eyes widened as he stifled a shock.
"R…reset?" he thought out loud.
Hovering in front of him was a screen that read, in scrawling white text:
DT INSUFFICIENT. SAVE FILE OVERWRITTEN.
A few seconds passed before Flowey's shock finally ebbed. As quickly as it had come, it was replaced by another emotion: anger.
"Are you KIDDING ME?" Flowey yelled at the screen for the half-second it remained before it disappeared, due to the absence of Flowey's leaf touching the star. "I don't have enough DETERMINATION and that's enough to OVERWRITE MY SAVE FILE? If I had more determination than everyone else in the entire underground, THAT means…"
Suddenly, Flowey was silent as something occurred to him. After thinking about it for a few seconds, he finished his sentence. "That means…someone has more determination than me. And that someone's bound to be another human."
Flowey, looking around and seeing that he was alone, widened his features into an eerily creepy smile. "So I might as well pay them a nice visit."
Flowey saw them the instant they walked into the archway. As they walked closer to him, he had to hold down a shiver of anticipation.
The child, although conducting themselves with a certain level of maturity by the way they walked, looked to be about eleven to twelve years old. Flowey didn't know what color their eyes were; they seemed to always keep them closed, but he could see that they had neck-length brown hair. They were wearing a blue and purple striped shirt, plain blue denim jeans, and a pair of black shoes, along with a bandage placed on their forehead. They seemed to have nothing on them but a sturdy branch, which they gripped firmly in their left hand.
As the human child neared him, they suddenly stopped and stared, regarding the flower in front of them with a certain level of interest. It was at this moment that he decided to make a first impression.
"Howdy!" he said in a hyper, jovial manner, almost expecting the human to practically jump out of their shirt. "I'm Flowey. Flowey the Flower."
Much to his chagrin, the human child didn't move an inch. They just kept staring, never breaking their invisible line of sight off him. Hm, maybe I just need to move it in faster. He thought as he continued his introduction.
"You're new the underground, aren't cha?" he continued. The human still didn't move or react in any way, and a growing feeling of confusion started to grow inside Flowey, but despite this, he wasn't finished. He changed tack. "Golly, you must be so confused. Someone ought to teach you how things work around here! I guess little old me will have to do."
The human had not moved, and more disturbingly, he seemed to see that they hadn't seemed to change their expression in the slightest. They just kept looking at him with that same eerie, unflinching stare. A bead of sweat began to form near his bud, where his face and skinny plant body met, as he began to weigh over his options and situation. From all his time in the underground, no human ever acted like this, especially any of the six fallen children. But Flowey knew he'd gone too far in his introduction to turn back now.
"Ready?" he asked, hoping it would gauge out a reaction, but he felt another flash of disappointment as again, no response was given. "Here we go!"
With no hesitation, the surroundings went dark, and something red and heart shaped appeared in front of the human. Before, he could see no change in the human's demeanor, but this time, he could clearly see their attention shift to the floating heart in front of them. Better late than never. Flowey thought with a twinge of relief before resuming his speech.
"See that heart?" He asked, gesturing toward it. "That's your soul, the very culmination of your being. Your soul starts off weak, but can grow strong if you gain a lot of LV."
For a split second, Flowey wondered if the human had heard this speech before, then quickly dismissed the thought. They should have just gotten here, right?
"What does LV stand for? Why, LOVE, of course! You want some LOVE, don't you? Don't worry, I'll share some with you!"
Just like clockwork, small white bullets appeared in the air, near him. Heh. Flowey gloated in his brain. They'll never see it coming. They hovered in the air for a couple seconds before Flowey resumed speaking.
"Down here, LOVE is shared through…" Flowey hesitated for half a second as he thought, then he ad-libbed, "…little white…'friendliness pellets.'" Kind of a steep lie, but kind of convincing all the same. "Are you ready? Move around! Get as many as you can!"
Then, Flowey sent the bullets forward, toward the human. They spun in the air, each with the same trajectory, and…
The human causally stepped aside, and the pellets flew past them. Releasing the magic put into them, the pellets shimmered, then disappeared as the magic was released into the air.
"Hey buddy, you missed them." Flowey stifled a grumble of annoyance before charging a new row of bullets into the air. Is this human dumb or something? "Let's try again, okay?"
Sending the bullets forward, Flowey watched with increased anticipation as…the human stepped aside again. This time, without bothering to release the magic, the pellets flew into the wall behind the human, hacking out some of the chiseled bricks. This time, Flowey's annoyance grew, but so did his nervousness. Why was this human so calm and collected, dodging every attack he threw at them? Even though he wasn't much for emotion, Flowey got the feeling that something wasn't right…
His annoyance and nervousness collided, making his next words very irritated. "Is this a joke? Are you brain dead?" he almost yelled. "RUN. INTO. THE. BULLETS!"
A millisecond later, he realized what he had said, and he cursed himself for being so obvious, giving it away much too easily. However, when he stared back at the human, their expression had still not changed. Maybe he might have gotten away with it. "Friendliness pellets, I mean." He corrected himself as he summoned more and sent them in the human's direction.
Crushing Flowey's thought like a bug, the human moved aside, possessing the same calm demeanor as they had during the last two dodges. This only proved to confirm Flowey's suspicions.
"You know what's going on, do you?" he said, searching the human for an answer. Their posture and expression needed no words to confirm they did indeed. Flowey's anger grew, thinking about the purpose of the human's actions in playing along with him until it settled on one grim conclusion: "You just wanted to see me suffer."
No movement of confirmation came from the human. There was no need. No reaction spoke well enough.
The anger inside Flowey's tiny body grew exponentially until it seemed to consume him, and his mouth twitched into a ghastly smile. Using his magic, he summoned bullets until they surrounded the human, his fiery anger directed at the heart which he knew lay the culmination of this pest's being.
And pests needed to be gotten rid of.
"DIE!" he shouted.
The bullets began to close in.
Then, just as they reached the heart, they stopped and refused to go any further and dissipated, the magic flying away in the wind. Flowey gave a double take before he realized that a glowing red barrier, obviously expelled from the human, was surrounding their soul, deflecting his attacks. From what he sensed, this kind of magic was caused by the very same human which stood in front of him, not from any monster.
How…? He thought to himself. No human should be able to wield magic. Then, after a few moments, he shook it off. It doesn't matter. If they can defend their soul from magical attacks, Bullets won't work. But I know one thing that will…
Quietly, almost silently, two vines pushed themselves out of the ground, on each side behind the human. Flowey almost chuckled with satisfaction, in the same way one chuckles before squishing a fly that has been flying around your head all day, especially when you've been trying to take a nap, but he held it in. The human might notice.
"Buh-bye now." He said, almost in a casual tone, as his vines sped forward…
And like lightning, the human's arms, each of them, grabbed the vines and held them fast, keeping them from moving another inch.
Flowey gasped, shocked and flabbergasted, as the human, without so much as a second glance, held the vines in their fists, firmly, so they wouldn't slip out. However, he could sense from their soul that holding the vines alone took absolutely no effort at all, yet they were shaking, having drawing out their strength from somewhere else. Falling on one knee, they panted and looked at Flowey…
And their eyelids shot open.
Flowey didn't even try to stifle his gasp as his eyes widened. The human's eyes were glowing, a fierce red that cut down to Flowey's empty core. Those red eyes signified Determination, he could tell, but they also signified so much more.
He had heard many rumors from around the underground that the eyes were the windows of the soul. Looking in those eyes, he expected to see an innocent child, completely ignorant of the rules of the underground.
But when he looked in those eyes, he saw emotions of all kinds. Fleeting happiness. Burning anger. A pain so intensifying that it threatened to drown out their very thoughts. They held much more memories than a human that had only been alive for a mere twelve years.
One thing was for sure: they were not the eyes of a child.
Once this occurred to him, the human's eyes flared, and a sudden jolt ran up the vines and to his body. Flowey wanted to scream, but his voice had left. A white glow filled him, growing in size and strength. He could feel his body changing, something happening to his flowery shape. The light grew so blinding, that he closed his eyes…
Images swam in his consciousness.
The human, holding Toriel's hand. They are standing at the precipice of Mount Ebbot, and following their friends to the world below…
Holding a glowing white heart, upside down, in their cupped hands. With a gentle smile, they're extending it to the golden flower, his face stretched tight in disbelief…
Holding the hand of a skeleton, wearing a blue coat and a pair of slippers. The child says something, and the skeleton laughs wholeheartedly and pats the human's shoulder. He trusts them, he really trusts them…
Flowey opened his eyes. The light had faded.
He was kneeling on the fine layer of grass. The human was still in front of him, standing there, a few seconds after the jolt had run through him. He looked down, expecting to see leaves, but what he saw made him gasp in disbelief.
I have…hands.
He stood up, slowly but surely, trying to figure out if it was really true. He stood up on a pair of legs covered in white fur. His hands were paws, and his arms were covered in that same white fur. He felt around his head, and instead of feeling petals and a bud, he felt hair. A snout. A pair of floppy ears. And deep within him, he felt the deep resonating of a soul.
He wasn't Flowey anymore. Somehow, he was back.
Asriel Dreamurr was back.
He chuckled, almost bursting into tears. He could feel. He could really feel. Happiness, joy, and even a distant feeling of love were scorching through him all at once.
"I'm back!" he exclaimed joyously, looking at the human. "I'm…"
When he stared into their eyes, his smile faltered. All the feelings ceased as they saw what their soul seemed to reflect to him.
Their eyes were gray, lifeless, dull. Their pupils were a dim silver shade, like an old coin that had attained a dim sheen. Before, he could feel a torrent of emotions flooding through those eyes, and now, he felt no such thing.
"H…human?" he asked, reaching out his hand. They did not respond.
Then, they began to walk forward, and once they reached Asriel…they pushed past him and to the entrance of the ruins, like he wasn't even there.
And as they kept walking, seemingly oblivious to their surroundings, Asriel pondered on the occurrence, all emotions on his return quickly driven out of his mind. He had felt the human's emotions before, he knew. But he realized something as the child walked near the ruins:
As he looked into their eyes, he saw emptiness.
As he looked into their soul, he saw nothing.
And it begins...
I might keep writing this if everybody wants more, but I will at least begin with three chapters. If no one wants more, then I will at least consider dropping it, but it's all on you guys at this point.
Love u! Stay AMAZING!
-DubstepDragon14